If your clients aren’t sending you a steady stream of referrals after you delivered AMAZING results for them, look for these leaks in your client onboarding process.
Reading or listening time: 5 minutes
Here’s what we’re discussing in this episode:
- how smart, thoughtful service providers end up with friction in their client experiences
- the basics of how every ethical and efficient client onboarding process starts
- how your onboarding process stops your clients from referring you
- specific examples of client experience sticking points that cause friction
- how to turn friction points into feel good moments
Listen:
How To Boost Referrals By Fixing The Leaks In Your Client Experience » Fern CX & CRM Blog
This one goes out to the ethical coaches, service providers, and freelancers because we’re focusing on why clients don’t refer your services to others, even after you’ve delivered amazing results for them. Sure, they may hire you again and/or keep you on retainer. But why aren’t they recommending you every time someone says they need help with the things you specialize in? It’s probably not your messaging, since they’ve already worked with you and gotten results. They KNOW what to refer you for. So let’s look at what else it could be in episode 002 of the Shortest CX Podcast. Links mentioned in this episode: The CX and CRM Blog: https://blog.ferncx.com CX Starter Kit: https://ferncx.com/start
Or read:
If you’re like most ethical coaches, freelancers, and service providers, you attract smart, amazing clients and you deliver the results your sales pitch promised.
Which is why most of your clients hire you again or keep you on retainer.
👏 Because 👏 you 👏 get 👏 results.
But if your clients aren’t sending you a steady stream of referrals, or gushing about you on social media, or tagging you every time someone asks for a recommendation ~ there’s friction in your client experience.
And trust me ~ I know most of you are probably thinking “Not MY client experience! I’ve put so much thought and effort into making it smooth.”
For you, as the expert who knows how the experience ends, and who tried to make this process as easy as possible, it’s probably hard for you to imagine where your clients are feeling friction.
So let’s look at it together:
A Basic Client Onboarding Process
🈸 First, a new prospect applies to work with you. You agree to work with them and they’re THRILLED! They can’t wait to get started.
🆗 Their info is already in your CRM from when they applied to work with you, so all you have to do is click “Go” on your automation that sends the contract to sign.
📝 As soon as the contract is signed, your automations send the invoice.
💳 As soon as the invoice is paid, your automations send an email with your
Welcome Packet,
intake form,
link to book their sessions,
or whatever you start with.
🎯 That’s the bare minimum every business should have in place.
If your process isn’t this smooth yet, message me IMMEDIATELY! We’ll take care of it THIS WEEK.
🛑 Because, if a client has to wait for the next time you’re in front of your computer to take ANY next step, then – FULL STOP – that’s the problem.
Friction Beyond The Basics
But, for everyone else, assuming you have the basics in place, you’re probably feeling pretty confident about your onboarding experience.
And the idea that it’s full of friction points AFTER this smooth beginning is probably something you haven’t considered before.
Hard truth: if your existing clients aren’t regularly referring you, it’s because they don’t want to be the person who recommended the friction.
Sure, you deliver in the end. But they don’t want their friends/peers/other thought leaders to suffer through waiting for those results before wondering why they listened to your client’s advice to hire you.
In the end, it doesn’t matter how easy *you* think the process is. *You* didn’t just open your bank account and drop a hefty investment before seeing results.
A LOT happens in your client’s mind (and nervous system) between the moment they submit their payment, and the moment they feel their first sign of relief as a result of hiring you.
Things start to feel harder than usual. Things start to feel like they’re taking longer than expected.
Examples Of Friction In Your Onboarding Process
➡️ So let’s look at how some of this plays out in your onboarding process:
❔ Maybe your intake form felt hard for them to complete in one sitting. And they don’t like feeling that frustration after paying you to give them relief in this area.
❔Maybe the questions you asked caused too much back and forth later to clear up a misunderstanding.
❔Maybe you provided videos on how to use your Client Portal and track the progress of their projects but watching and learning feels like it takes all the time and effort they were hoping to save by hiring you.
❔Maybe they struggled during the time they had to wait between paying the invoice and getting on that first coaching call with you. And a little part of them blames you for making them wait that long.
❔Maybe they were nervous about investing as much as they did before knowing how it would turn out. And the time it took between paying the invoice and seeing the results was scary and painful. Not that they would ever admit it to you of course!
❔Maybe your process didn’t fit their work style/learning style and it felt hard to keep up with.
🤩 All of these friction points are fixable when you know how to look at your client experience through the eyes of a client instead of the expert who already knows how everything turns out in the end.
After a decade of building “sales funnels that don’t stop after the sale,” I know where buyers get stuck. I know the signs and what to look for.
And I know how to turn friction points into feel good moments.
Action Steps
If you want to spend 5 minutes per week learning just enough about CX & CRM to boost your profit margins, subscribe to our YouTube channel or join our email list so you don’t miss an episode:
If you want to optimize your post-sale client experience to boost referrals, book a 1:1 CX Start Kit session with me and we’ll start right away:
What’s Next
In the next episode, we’re going to take a close look at the #1 most common friction point we see almost every business doing.
And it’s the kind of thing that buyers tolerated between 2010 and 2020, but it’s hurting your business in this new economy where buyers are less trusting and more selective with their purchase decisions.
